Spring bird migration is underway over Green County, offering one of the clearest signs yet that winter is loosening its grip on southern Wisconsin. Data from Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast dashboard estimated that 800 birds crossed Green County overnight Sunday into Monday, with peak migration traffic reaching about 5,200 birds in flight.

For people in New Glarus, that means spring is not just showing up in warmer air, muddy fields and longer evenings. It is also arriving overhead, often in darkness, as birds move north through the county on their way to breeding grounds farther up the map. BirdCast’s Green County dashboard suggests that right now the mix of likely migrants includes dark-eyed junco, fox sparrow, tundra swan, greater white-fronted goose, green-winged teal, northern pintail, gadwall, American wigeon, lesser scaup, northern shoveler, canvasback, redhead, bufflehead and ruddy duck.